Like many other areas of the entertainment industry, film festivals have inevitably been impacted by the pandemic over the past two years.
But in 2022, more in-person events are returning to the cultural calendar, celebrating some of the best movies created by filmmakers from around the globe, including a number of talented women and gender-diverse people.
Here we will keep you up to date on all of the new movies to keep your eyes peeled out for at film festivals in Sydney in 2022.
Sydney Film Festival
When is the Sydney Film Festival?
The 69th Sydney Film Festival takes place from Wednesday, June 8 to Sunday June 19 2022.
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Where is the Sydney Film Festival?
The Sydney Film Festival will host various screenings across the NSW capital, with locations including the State Theatre, Event Cinemas on George Street in the CBD, Palace Cinema Central, Dendy Newtown, Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace Cremorne, The Ritz Cinema Randwick, the Domain Theatre at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, and Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.
Which films are screening at the Sydney Film Festival?
The opening night film is We Are Still Here, a multi-genre anthology on First Nations peoples. The closing night film is Broker, a tender drama by Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, direct from the Cannes Competition.
“What a joy it is to return to the Festival’s traditional June dates, bringing with it the return of international filmmakers to present their films, in person parties, talks, the Festival Hub and a range of activities in and outside of the cinema” Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley said in a media statement on Wednesday, May 11.
Moodley highlighted the diversity displayed across the selected movies, saying, there are "films from all over the world, engaging with the most pertinent issues in challenging and entertaining ways".
“There are films that will elicit big emotions, that have us laughing and crying in the cinema; films that will bring the intensity of feeling that comes from seeing something on the big screen, in a room filled with people…the big feelings experienced only in cinema,” he said.
Documentary lovers can look forward to Keep Stepping, an Aussie doco about two female performers training for Australia's biggest street dance competition.
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Fans of bone-chilling horror movies are in for a treat as The Bold Type's Aisha Dee stars in Sissy, playing an influencer who encounters her childhood tormentor on a hen's weekend.
In terms of international picks, social drama Bootlegger (starring Reservation Dogs actor Devery Jacobs) explores two women on opposing sides of the debate around the legalisation of alcohol sales in a First Nations community in Northern Quebec.
Here are the films that have been announced:
1. Sissy
2. The Forgiven
3. Keep Stepping
4. 6 Festivals
5. Flux Gourmet
6. The Passengers of the Night
7. Please Baby Please
8. Bootlegger
9. Blue Moon
10. A House Made of Splinters
11. Costa Brava, Lebanon
12. Yuni
13. Private Desert
14. Calendar Girls
15. Sirens
16. Gentle
17. Hinterland
18. Incredible But True
19. Super Furball Saves the Future
20. The Territory
21. We Met In Virtual Reality
22. Plainball
23. Blaze
24. You Won't Be Alone
25. All The People I’ll Never Be
26. Burning Days
27. Godland
28. Close
29. Alcarràs
30. Before, Now and Then
3`1. The Quiet Girl
32. Utama
33. Fire of Love
34. Audrey Napanangka
35. Everybody’s Oma
36. General Hercules
37. Evicted! A Modern Romance
38. The Longest Weekend
39. Mystery Road: Origin
40. True Colours
41. Nude Tuesday
42. Fairy Folk
43. Seriously Red
44. Lonesome
45. Cha Cha Real Smooth
46. Good Luck To You, Leo Grande
47. Fire Island
48. The Phantom of the Open
49. One Fine Morning
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50. Tchaïkovsky’s Wife
51. Navalny
52. Huda’s Salon
53. Where is Anne Frank?
54. Nude Tuesday
55. Polenta
56. The Dreamlife of Georgie Stone
57. Delikado
58. The Sweetness
59. Warrawong… the windy place on the hill
60. The Plains
61. Millie Lies Low
62. The Humans
63. Emily the Criminal
64. Alice
65. The Outfit
66. The Stranger
67. A E I O U - A Quick Alphabet Of Love
68. A Long Song
69. Return to Dust
70. One Year, One Night
71. Klondike
72. Ahed’s Knee
73. Commitment Hasan
74. The Blind Man Who Did Not Want To See Titanic
75. Father’s Day
76. Hommage
77. Inu-Oh
78. No Land’s Man
79. Anatomy of Time
80. NR. 10
81. The Tasting
82. Anatolian Leopard
83. Unrest
How can I buy tickets to the Sydney Film Festival?
Tickets, season passes and gift vouchers for the Sydney Film Festival can be purchased here.
Fantastic Film Festival
When is the Fantastic Film Festival?
The Fantastic Film Festival returns to Sydney from Thursday, April 21 to Friday, May 6. It will also be running in Melbourne over the same fortnight.
Where is the Fantastic Film Festival?
All films will be screened at the Ritz Cinema in Randwick, Sydney.
Which films are screening at the Fantastic Film Festival?
The Fantastic Film Festival celebrates the cross-section of cult, genre and arthouse cinema from around the world, and this year you can expect cosmic queer sci-fi, gothic horror and some sharp satires in the mix.
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"We’re extremely excited to present this year’s program. FFFA offers a journey beyond any known map of convention and the films we’ve curated this year come from filmmakers at the cutting-edge of international storytelling," Fantastic Film Festival Australia Artistic Director Hudson Sowada said in a media release.
“We have also widened our scope beyond cinema to embrace more modes of creative expression. We’re proud to launch the inaugural Music Video Blind Date, an event celebrating the best of our local music and filmmaking talent; and Cinema 1 Nightclub, a unique blend of live music, visual art and cinema, featuring DJ Female Wizard. You can also expect to find nude screenings, in-cinema DJ performances, Dungeons and Dragons, Q&As and exceptional short form work."
Opening night will be rather memorable for those who attend, with a screening of The Northman kicking off at midnight! The Viking epic stars the likes of Alexander Skarsgård, Nicole Kidman, Claes Bang, Anya Taylor-Joy, Ethan Hawke, Björk, and Willem Dafoe.
We’re All Going to the World’s Fair, a psychological horror and coming of age story, follows a teenage girl on a path of self-exploration through an online roleplaying game. Written and directed by Jane Schoenbrun, this movie was a standout at Sundance Film Festival.
Here are all of the movies and events:
Absolute Denial
Actors
After Blue (Dirty Paradise)
Agnes
All My Friends Hate Me
Assholes
Cinema 1 Nightclub - Female Wizard Live
Dreams On Fire
Dungeons and Dragons
Good Madam
New York Ninja
Petrov's Flu
Poser
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Possession (4K Restoration)
Strawberry Mansion
The Execution
The Full Monty
The Innocents
The Northman
The Penultimate
The Timekeepers Of Eternity
Ultrasound
We're All Going To The World's Fair
What Josiah Saw
How can I buy tickets to the Fantastic Film Festival?
Information about passes and pricing for tickets can be found here.
Alliance Française French Film Festival
When is the Alliance Française French Film Festival?
The Alliance Française French Film Festival's Sydney-run takes place between Friday, April 1 and Sunday, April 10.
Where is the Alliance Française French Film Festival?
The festival's screenings take place at Palace Central, Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona, Chauvel Cinema, Hayden Orpheum Cremorne and Parramatta Riverside Theatres.
Which films are screening at the Alliance Française French Film Festival?
Expect some gems across romance, humour, culture, action and tragedy at the movie fest.
"The festival’s 2022 edition is a French cinematic adventure, which not only captures our current society, but also shines a light on the future society we strive to build," the festival's artistic director Karine Mauris said in a press statement.
"We invite you to escape and head on enchanting journeys with our beautiful characters, whilst also finding comic relief during these often daunting times."
Romantic comedy Hear Me Out promises an emotional ride for viewers, centring on a history teacher in his early 50s who realises he's become very hard of hearing. What happens when he crosses paths with Clare, a widow and mother of a young girl who has stopped speaking? Well, watch and find out.
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The Kitchen Bridage is another weekend must-see, following Cathy, a 40-year-old sous-chef who's finally following her dream of opening her own high-end restaurant. But things don't quite go according to plan.
Here are all of the movies that have been announced so far:
Lost Illusions
Hear Me Out
The Kitchen Brigade
La Traviata, My Brothers & I
Rise
Farewell, Mr Haffmann
How can I buy tickets to the Alliance Française French Film Festival?
Session time information and ticket purchases can be made here.
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